What killed this Copperhead?

[Ford850]

Maybe you ran over it in some other area and it crawled to that spot and died.

 

[MossRoad]

My wife and I were walking a horse trail at a state park today and she found a dying snake that had been stepped on by a horse. I should say a dead snake, as its head was separated from the body, but the tail was still twitching... And we found another dead one on the road.

Anyhow, did it have any peck marks in it? Can't tell from the picture. It looks kind of flat in the middle. Did Oscar step on it?

 

[EddieWalker]

The ants pretty much ate it up in the middle area and near it's head. It was still limp with I picked it up with a stick and through away out in the middle of a field. The horses are about 80 feet away from where I found it, so I guess it could have been stepped on by one of them, and then it went that far before dying. I've killed a few on my gravel driveway too. The only snake that I have seen on the driveway have been copperheads. It's something I watch for every single time I drive on it, even though I've only killed three on there in ten years, it's enough to keep me aware of them. Of course, it could have been anybody else driving down it, and after it was ran over, it went 50 to 60 feet to where I found it.

The chickens where in that area again this morning. The guineas have been out in the horse pasture and seem to avoid the chickens that stay around the house.

 

[Clay45]

Maybe it ate something that clawed its way out and the ants are just cleaning up the mess along with the birds?

 

[2ndhalf]

The ants pretty much ate it up in the middle area and near it's head. It was still limp with I picked it up with a stick and through away out in the middle of a field. The horses are about 80 feet away from where I found it, so I guess it could have been stepped on by one of them, and then it went that far before dying. I've killed a few on my gravel driveway too. The only snake that I have seen on the driveway have been copperheads. It's something I watch for every single time I drive on it, even though I've only killed three on there in ten years, it's enough to keep me aware of them. Of course, it could have been anybody else driving down it, and after it was ran over, it went 50 to 60 feet to where I found it.

The chickens where in that area again this morning. The guineas have been out in the horse pasture and seem to avoid the chickens that stay around the house.

I wouldn't put it past the chickens to gang up on a snake and kill it but it would have a ton of peckmarks I would think. My moms chicken will go after about anything you toss over the fence. A hog would have certainly eatin it. Since you have Guineas though that seems pretty likely.. maybe they came up around the house when the snake ran the chickens off.. I hear Guineas are protective.

Hawk dropping as someone suggests seams viable also.

 

[EddieWalker]

Lately, we've seen the chickens going after mice. Any mouse that comes out and runs around during daylight gets chased down by them and eaten.

 

[Soundguy]

It wasn't ran over. It was just starting to smell when I found it, but the ants have been at it for awhile. I don't know how long it takes to smell, but guess it was a few days. The last time I mowed there was two weeks ago, and that would be the only thing with tires that ever goes there.

We don't have turkeys here.

It had to be either the chickens, or the guineas, and I haven't seen the guineas in that area for weeks. The chickens are there every day. I just never heard of chickens killing snakes.

do you have roosters? I have seen roosters kill snakes ( in addition to turkey. )

 

[kcflhrc]

My chickens will definitely kill and eat snakes, they love them.

 

[MossRoad]

Scary chickens!

...for mice, at least.

 

[AchingBack]

Perhaps it died of natural causes. Maybe even old age.